Chapter Text
Ice cold breeze.
That is the first indication that all was not as it were a mere few hours ago. That something had definitely changed since sleep had reared its head. Yet the chill in the air and the frozen bed did not alarm enough that sleep would become forgotten easily. The distant sound of howls though? That startled the wild haired woman awake and bolting upright, stance ready for a fight. It took a few seconds though for the girl to realize that she definitely was not at home anymore. Looking at the glacial glade surrounding her, the girl stood upright and growled a little. “Well shit.” Huffing out mist into the cold night air the girl stood for a moment and tried to work out just where in the hell she was, and how she had even gotten there.
She kicks at the snow as if it was the reason for this misfortune. She then proceeds to wrap her arms around herself trying to keep the cold out, yet resulting with little to no effect. The girl sighs before taking a moment to look around her, to try and find a way in which to go. Though all she can see is untampered freshly fallen snow with nothing but a few fir trees and rocks every so often. Shaking the fresh snow off of the mess that is her hair, the girl begins to trudge forward or more precisely stomps her way through the snow. Not out of anger, simply her legs being so small that the snow reaches up all the way to her thighs. “Fuck a duck, fuck my life.” Stomping through the snow, the girl's clothes become wet and begin to stick to her. Making the annoying journey through the night all the more uncomfortable. “This shit is so damn cold.” Every so often she stops a moment to shake her hair free from the snow trying to form icicles on every strand upon her head. So the trek to a shelter of sorts that would have taken the average person in the conditions abound this night, forty five minutes or so turned out to take nearly triple that.
However finally the girl found shelter for the night, the only problem is it is down the steep cliff. Taking a moment to weigh out her options of freezing to death or rolling down the hill with a chance of becoming a snow person, the now tired girl growls out another sigh like sound. “Better be fuckin’ worth this shit.” Without further ado the girl takes the first step down the very steep hill…. And promptly loses her footing thus ends up propelling downhill like a tiny boulder, landing in a bankment of snow wherein not even the long wild waves of her hair could be seen above the snow. For several seconds that felt more like lifetimes the girl remained in her slush grave seemingly having given up. Tardily and without any thought process to exposure, the girl emerges from the icy crypt from which she had almost become a popsicle. “Bastard ice, stupid pathetic ice. URGH!” Shaking herself free from the compact snow, the girl in spite of nearly becoming buried alive finally managed to get to a very run down cabin. That of which looks to be dark and dreary before the girl even manages to get inside. Which should have really given the girl the idea that the inside would not be much better. And upon opening the door that one fact became reality when all that remained in the cabin was a broken table, a few cabinets with doors literally hanging by the hinges, a rotten big plank that may have once been used for a bed of some sort and a tiny circle of rocks surrounding a ash pile where logs may have been ablaze once upon a time. “Shoulda’ stayed where I were, damn fucking snow.” It wasn’t long before sleep took the girl yet again having curled up in the furthermost corner of the cabin.
Twenty days. That’s all it took for the dishevelled girl to get used to the frozen wilderness that surrounds her. To figure out that there is probably little to no chance she could find her way back home. To decide in the end that perhaps she didn’t actually care all that much about returning to the hell hole that had become her life. That she needed to actually step up and fight to actually survive the harshness of the weather. To find new shelter, and improve it so holes became boarded up, wood stocked each and every area where a fire could safely be lit. It took her twenty days to finally get a handle on hunting the game that roamed the hills around her. To lay skins down on the floors of the cabins in order to keep warm. To sew furs together haphazardly to create something akin to a tunic, jacket, pants and moccasins. To finally have enough of the wild mess that is her hair and tie it back with a strip of leather. She had found on her person that at least she had a knife and two different sized needles. Her collection of objects enlarged once she had found her new place of shelter. Having found an axe, two other knives, some rope and string, and a flat headed tool which ended up being useful for whittling tools needed to survive. She even managed to craft a sling bag of sorts to keep her things on her.
It paid dividends that she had previously been known to be very outdoorsy and almost feral. Using those skills, she had in fact even been able to make some new tools during those twenty days. A hammer, some sharp stones, a bow and some arrows. The girl had even been able to fashion a coat of sorts with a wolf pelt, using its head as a sort of hat like hood. Even going as far as making gloves using the paws of said wolf, keeping the claws as décor. The girl had become a tried and true outdoorswoman and had for all intents and purposes succeeded in keeping herself alive even as a blizzard blew through her little old home. Luckily when it hit she had already managed to boil enough water and chop enough wood to last her the night even with her cooking. Yet having had to wait for a break in the storm proved to be the catalyst of what would turn her world upside yet again.
She huffs out in annoyance as the wind howls through the trees. She should have done the hunting for dinner earlier. But she had been so caught up in just enjoying the scenery, watching the mother rabbit show the joys of snow to her young kittens. She silently curses herself as she does her best to get through the freshly fallen snow. Though a quick glance up has her stopping instantly. Her home, her little abandoned town was alive and lit. There are wagons that have become stuck in the snow. Voices carry on the wind as she silently ducks down whilst she begins to creep a little forward trying to figure out who these intruders are. Three buildings have light pouring from their windows, horses can be heard huffing in the barn she had yet to do anything to. She crouches by one of the cabins, keeping an attentive eye out. Notices two men around a campfire keeping watch. “I’m seeing things. I’ve finally gone insane.” Sneakily and without sound the girl moves, careful not to attract attention, to the furthest cabin. She isn’t too sure how these people will react to a feral wild woman dressed in wolf skin carrying a skinned bloody rabbit, but with the cold nipping her at every move the girl shrugs. “Guess it’s time to meet these fools.”
Sidestepping around to a hidden side door, the girl sneaks inside the cabin. Careful not to leave the shadows of the small room to the side of where some of the people are, the girl creeps forward, taking a moment to see who exactly invaded her derelict home. She watches as a man with black hair sits down in front of the raging fire, taking up most of the heat emitting from it whilst an older gentleman tries to keep a cough under wraps as he shivers a little. She also eyes a big gruff man trying not to yawn as he listens to the heat stealer drone on about some iscols. Rolling her eyes the girl steps back further into the darkness of the small side room and shrugs off her coat. She then proceeds to place her rabbit on the counter before grabbing at a metal pan thing she had found beforehand. And without a care in the world pushes past the men in the main room, who suddenly jump a little at her appearance out of nowhere before grabbing at their holsters. The girl pays little mind to them as she moves about the cabin, putting the pan thing on a stone shelf just above the fire before moving and grabbing the water she had prepared earlier. “Er hum, Miss?” Ignoring the warmth taker, the girl also grabs a couple of wooden cups. She moves in relative silence as she takes some herbs from her bag and puts them in the water and then grabs the rabbit and places it on the heated stone. The men stand gawking at the newcomer trying to figure out if she is dangerous. As they do so, she grabs at a pelt the black haired one was sitting on and walks to the older man, pushing it at him before hugging herself then moving back to the water, now warm. She grabs one of the cups and drags in through the water mix before stepping back to the elder one. “Drink.” Shoving the cup in his hand she repeats the process but gives the second cup to the big tired grumpy man. She moves to the rabbit now sizzling on the stone, as she takes a moment to watch it cook. The black haired man huffs in annoyance at being ignored and left out, whilst the big man's eyes flicker from the cup to the girl and back repeatedly. All the while, the elder man now wrapped in the melt shrugs her shoulders and takes a tentative sip of the mysterious brewed water. Quickly he hums in content at the familiar taste of health based herbs and relishing the warm the drink emits. Seeing the elder man drink, the big one follows the lead and drinks some of the drink down, sighing at the warmness that spreads his body and makes him sleepy.
“Girl, who in the hell do you think you are?” “Dutch leave her…” “No, she can’t just…” “Shut!” The girl moves like a lightning bolt and pushes her finger against the Dutch’s mouth. She then turns on her heels and using her knife stabs at the rabbit, eating some off of the blade jabbed into it. She then moves to the elder man and holds the meat near his mouth. “You, eat.” Waiting only for the man to take a bite, the girl moves to the other and does the same thing this time simply nodding her head to the meat. He too takes a bite before the girl finishes it off herself. Dutch is left gaping at the girl as the other two soften their watchful eyes towards the girl. “We are sorry to impose, we have women and a child. We were caught up in the storm you see? We promise not to be too much of a bother.” The girl side-eyes the older grey haired man. “My name is Hosea Matthews, that man there is Dutch Van Der Linde and this grumpy one is Arthur Morgan.” There finally these intruders introduce themselves, Dutch forever scoffs and goes to speak again but a quick glare from Hosea has him shutting his mouth. “Stay. Warm. Sleep. Morning. Talk.” No sooner had the girl spoken those words did she move to the room closest to the little sideroom. Shrugging his shoulders Hosea settles himself down to sleep. “Uhh, I can um. I’ll sleep out here tonight.” The girl eyes Arthur for a moment as he shifts from one foot to the other in awkward shyness, allowing him to wallow in doubt for a moment, however with a quick roll of her eyes she walks over to him and pushes him into the room with the bed. “Share. Hurt. You die cowboy. No Hurt? Sleep. Worry. Morning.” Without giving him a chance to object the girl pushes Arthur onto the bed and climbs on there too, quickly disappearing and huddling under the blankets before he can even start to object. Though the moment he hits that bed, he can’t even complain as sleep takes him almost instantly.